Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley are one of Hollywood’s most private couples. That didn’t stop Bateman from starring in a rom-com inspired by his wife’s iconic Star Wars character.
For those who don’t know, The Love Hypothesis is Prime Video’s film adaptation of the Ali Hazlewood novel of the same name. The film follows Olive (Lili Reinhart), a Stanford PhD grad student who pretends to date a notoriously surly biology professor, Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), to convince her best friend that it’s okay to date the guy Olive had a crush on. Ah, the old fake dating trope! How we love you.
Bateman’s role in the film is somewhat of an easter egg, considering Hazlewood’s best-seller was based on a Star Wars fan fiction she wrote about Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While the traditionally published novel removed the obvious Star Wars references, Dr. Carlsen’s name is a clear homage to Driver, while a more villainous character just so happens to share Bateman’s first name…
“You can’t write that,” Bateman told USA Today of the connection. “The serendipity is so out there because they were leaning towards me anyway.” And yes, Bateman was told about the connection when he was offered the role—though he was a little confused about the details.
“I genuinely thought what [director Claire Scanlon] meant by that was Ali Hazelwood was inspired by Star Wars to start writing some fan fiction, and that gave her a taste for writing,” he says. It wasn’t until Reinhart posted her now-viral TikTok video about Bateman’s casting that he understood The Love Hypothesis started its life as Reylo fanfic. His first thought? “Press is going to be fun…”
Instead of shying away from the story’s origins, Bateman comes off like a truly proud husband every time it comes up. “[Daisy’s] character is so beloved by people,” he said during his Vanity Fair Lie Detector Test. “To have that impact on people and to have a sort of spinoff and things being inspired by it, that’s a kind of dream, right?”
Meanwhile Ridley seems just as proud of her husband, calling the situation “sweet” and promoting the film on Instagram.
But, how did they get together in real life and was there any fake dating involved in their love story? The couple has done a pretty good job keeping details about their relationship private. Below, here’s Tom Bateman and Daisy Ridley’s complete relationship timeline.
November 2016: Bateman and Ridley meet on the set of Murder on the Orient Express.
November 2017: Ridley and Bateman’s connection gets exposed by a film producer promoting Murder on the Orient Express. “Something kinda happened with Tom and Daisy right? That’s public news,” Judy Hofflund told People. “I should keep my mouth shut. Oh well.”
Bateman himself declines to answer questions about his relationship with his female costars and brushes off Hofflund’s remark on the red carpet. “They like to create a buzz, they’ve got to otherwise no one will come and see the movie,” he says, according to the People article.
December 2017: Bateman attends a Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere after-party, further fueling romance rumors.
April 18, 2018: Ridley is photographed holding hands with “rumored boyfriend Tom Bateman” in London, though the cutest paparazzi photos show them each carrying one handle of their farmer’s market tote.
